This is not intended to be a political question and please do not turn this into a political discussion.

This is just an honest question from an ignorant American.

I was reading that the Canadian PM suspended Parliament, but to do so he had to ask permission of " Governor General Michaelle Jean -- the representative of Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state ".

Um, please don't be offended by this as I mean nothing by it, but I thought you guys were totally free of England like we are. Or am I wrong here?

Bball

12-05-2008, 04:29 AM

Canada is also a constitutional monarchy, with The Crown acting as a symbolic or ceremonial executive.[32][33] The Crown consists of Queen Elizabeth II (legal head of state) and her appointed viceroys, the Governor General (acting head of state) and provincial Lieutenant-Governors, who perform most of the monarch's ceremonial roles.[34][35][36][37][38] The political executive consists of the Prime Minister (head of government) and the Cabinet and carries out the day-to-day decisions of government.[39][40][41][42] The Cabinet is made up of ministers usually selected from the House of Commons and headed by the Prime Minister,[43][44][45] who is normally the leader of the party that holds the confidence of the House of Commons. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is one of the most powerful institutions in government,[46][47] initiating most legislation for parliamentary approval and selecting, besides other Cabinet members, Senators, federal court judges, heads of Crown corporations and government agencies, and the Governor General. The Crown formally approves parliamentary legislation and the Prime Minister's appointments.[48] The leader of the party with the second most seats usually becomes the Leader of the Opposition and is part of an adversarial parliamentary system that keeps the government in check. Michaëlle Jean has served as Governor General since September 27, 2005; Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party, has been Prime Minister since February 6, 2006; and Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, has been Leader of the Opposition since December 2, 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada

Bball

12-05-2008, 04:32 AM

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary;[N 1] born 21 April 1926) is the queen regnant of 16 independent states and their overseas territories and dependencies. Though she holds each crown and title separately and equally, and carries out duties in and on behalf of the other states of which she is monarch, Elizabeth is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, her oldest realm; part of her lineage traces through the royal houses of England, Wessex, and Scotland for over 1500 years. She ascended the thrones of seven countries in February 1952, on the death of her father King George VI. In addition to the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in each of which she is represented by a Governor-General. The 16 countries of which she is Queen are known informally and unofficially as Commonwealth realms; their combined population, including dependencies, is over 129 million, and their total land area makes Elizabeth one of only a few monarchs to reign over parts of every continent on earth. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice (and in accordance with convention), she rarely intervenes in political matters.

Elizabeth II also holds a variety of other positions, among them Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. Her long reign has seen sweeping changes in her realms and the world at large, perhaps most notably the dissolution of the British Empire (a process that began in the last years of her father's reign) and the consequent evolution of the modern Commonwealth of Nations.

Since 1947, Elizabeth has been married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The couple have four children and eight grandchildren.